


The Night Of The Cannibal Plants

by LI0NH34RT



Series: Birthday Stories [12]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bush cats, I just love the Bush cats, M/M, Magic, Magic AU, Thiam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 01:38:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LI0NH34RT/pseuds/LI0NH34RT
Summary: The “Blooming Balconies" festival is Liam's favourite time of the year. If only his neighbour, who is Mr. Perfection in every sense of the word wouldn't keep him from claiming his well earned title of the Flower King every year anew...





	The Night Of The Cannibal Plants

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheodoreR](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheodoreR/gifts).



> This kind of escalated. I blame it on the cannibal plant. Hope you like it anyway.  
> A short guide to this universe:  
> Every human being has some kind of magic in themselves but in some it manifests in more than a talent for swimming or for playing the piano. They are called witches (regardless of gender)  
> Liam is a type of nature witch (green magic), with a special talent for plants. They thrive on his magic and he can create and revive new plants. This talent is closely related to the gift of healers and the rare gift of life.  
> Please ask me more, if anything is unclear.  
> (Not kidding, please ask me, I love this universe.)
> 
> For Med. Finally. Happy Birthday my favourite sausage lover. 💙

The sun shines from a nearly cloudless sky, the birds are singing their song and Liam mimics them, whistling the merry tune along while he opens up the glass door leading to his balcony to let the warm rays of light flood into his living room.  

  
Yes, today is a good day.

  
Armed with a little bucket and a watering can the stocky young man steps out on his balcony to tend to his pride and joy – the armada of plants inhabiting the small space outside of his apartment. His only living roommates.

  
Living in a warm climate like California where it was basically summer year round in conjunction with Liam's green thumb really help the big and little greenery to flourish and bloom. Normally he was happy to just let everything thrive and prosper how it wants but on this early Sunday morning Liam has a real goal set: _The Festival Of Blooming Balconies_ , hosted by the city of Beacon Hills and their major Natalie Martin, every year in late spring, when the plants are in full bloom and before the summer's heat gets too much, every hobby gardener and wannabe biologist in Beacon Hills competes in a competition so vicious outsiders would never believe the only price the winner gets is a golden plastic  troph of a sunflower in a pot.

 

  
For Liam and every other competitor it wasn't about the price, it was about winning; most people had no idea when the contest had gotten that serious but Liam remembered the exact day Theo Raeken had come into town.

  
At first he had seemed like a nice young man, always friendly, helped carrying the groceries of older people and greeted in the hallways, he had shown his real face at the Blooming Balconies Festival one year prior.

  
Liam had gone into the competition with the ease of two victories in a row and the knowledge that his magic would help him fix any last minute withered leaves or let a tiny rose bud bloom into a beautiful flower. Was that cheating? Maybe. Did Liam care if being gifted with the green magic helped him win? Absolutely not.

  
Everything had worked out perfectly. And then he had looked over to Theo's balcony.

  
   
What followed wasn’t pretty and Liam still licks his wounds a year later.   
   
This year however everything is different. After a long phone call with a few friends and family back home Liam prepared himself with a few more active spells and a fool proof potion-enhanced fertilizer so nothing can go wrong.   
Liam hovers in the middle of the doorframe as his eyes wander over to the colour explosion that is happening over on Theo's balcony.   
Roses, Callas, Lilies and even a few tropical plants have appeared overnight and are currently on their way to a full bloom, just in time for the festival start tomorrow.

  
The greenery on Liam's own balcony is healthy and his palm trees wave their leaves happily as they sense his magic but nothing that is growing around him can compete with Theo's flowery extravagance.   
Liam turns on his heels, the single white daisy stuck behind his ear falling to the ground only to be immediately devoured by on of his pets, a cat shaped boxwood creature, but Liam doesn't even notice. He should really learn to stop jinxing his luck. Time for an emergency spell.

  
   
Two hours later his face and forearms are covered in stripes of dirt and he feels exhausted, drained from most of his magic. His plants, sensing the energy outbursts emitting from his body thrived on it and started to grow and bloom but the main result is currently sitting in an innocent clay pot on Liam's couch table.   
Carefully he extracts a finger and touches one of the little leaves that are now unfurling under his touch.

  
_It's alive!_ Pops up in Liam's thoughts and he giggles, slowly pulling his hand back again. A wave of nausea shoots through his stomach as he leans back.   
_Alright, that was definitely a little too much. Time for a nap._   
And so he curls up on his sofa, not entirely in a horizontal position as his brain already falls asleep, with two of his Bush-cats curling around his feet, purring so heavy their leaves shiver.   
   
The sun continues to shine and the birds still sing their song as Liam dreams and the little plant in it's clay pot unfurls the leaves further, reaching out towards the sun and it's sleeping creator, growing steadily.    
 

  
~♤~   
 

  
Liam's problem with magic had always been his impatience. His mother, several tutors and even his best friend Mason hadn't been able to stop him from wanting too much in a too short timeframe. Luckily Liam had a fairly big reserve of energy so using a bit too much magic usually didn’t hurt him, but if he used up too much at once his body demanded sleep and nothing could wake him up until his reservoirs were full again. Nothing. Not even the sound of splintering clay...   
   
~♤~   
   
For a second Liam thinks he is back in the jungle his mom brought them to for one long since past summer vacation, for a second he can hear the foreign animal sounds and feel the rain drops pearling from the leaves on his skin; then a shrill whine disrupts the peaceful scenery that his sleepy brain built and he jerks fully awake.

  
The boy's eyes open just in time to see an abnormally big mouth, complete with impressively large thorns for teeth, chew down on one of the small Bush-cats, causing it to whimper in pain as it’s delicate twigs break through the jaw’s force. What he had thought to be the raindrops on his skin is plant juice dripping from the monster plants muzzle. Liam is on his feet in a heartbeat and his magic erupts nearly without his doing.

  
Just in time he catches the falling cat in his hands, the severed head of what had been a mere seedling a few hours ago falling to the ground forgotten as Liam cradles his pet carefully. Its friend meows and slowly comes out off its hiding spot under the couch to slink around its creator's feet.

  
“Oh you poor thing, shhhh, let me help you”, Liam whispers, his healing fingers gingerly fixing the damage done and the Bush purrs in thankfulness.  

  
   
~♤~   
 

  
“Fucking hell, why are you so heavy?”   
Trying to suppress more serious curses Liam gives the corpse of the cannibal plant a hefty kick but it doesn’t budge from where its locked crosswise in his doorframe.   
   
“Can I help you with something?” an amused voice sounds from behind the mountain of leaves and branches that are currently replacing Liam's front door.   
“What does it look like?” he fires back fed up with the clear as day amusement that is audible in the other men’s voice.   
A chuckle confirms his theory. “Alright. Hold onto the plant real good, Liam.”   
In his confusion he does what he is told, too busy with finding out who the hell his anonymous helper is and why he knows Liam's name but before he can voice that matter the world starts spinning and gets dark a second later.   
   
When Liam's come to again he hears tropical birds and feels the humidity of the rainforest on his skin.   
He groans, “Not again...”   
 

  
“Not again what, Liam?”   
The blonde whips his head around so fast he would have probably fell, if he wasn’t sitting on the ground already. Two feet, clad in black, worn in combat boots step in front of him and Liam’s eyes glance up the figure standing there until they land on an outstretched hand. He takes it.   
   
“Sorry, I should have warned you”, Theo Raeken says as he pulls him to his feet, “The first time is always rough.”   
“You- what- how did we get here?!”   
Theo chuckles and extends his arms in a ‘welcome to the real world’ gesture. “The same way you ended up with a gigantic dead monster plant stuck in your doorway. Magic.”   
Liam can feel his jaw going slack. “You are a witch too?”   
That assumption earns him nothing but an amused snort. The wind licks up, ruffling through the trees around them causing Theo to look up.   
“Come on, we should head back, I don’t want to get stuck in a monsoon again”, with that Theo holds out his hand again, the same one Liam dropped in shock earlier.

  
   
A brief vortex of colours later they are back in Liam's entryway but this time he doesn’t let go of Theo's  hand, not even as the other guy tries to pull away. “No. I won't let you leave until you explain to me what that was!”   
   
Theo rolls his eyes but he follows Liam's pull inside obediently, kicking the door shut with his heel.   
Once inside his eyes take in every detail of Liam's living space. There are plants on every surface, the kitchen shelves, the coffee table, the bookshelves and the windowsills. His balcony doors are still open and a fresh breeze plays with the curtains, to the amusement of the two Bush-cats, trying to fetch the delicate fabric with toothless muzzles.

  
“They are cute, what are their names?”   
“Hm?” Liam is too distracted from Theo's hand still in his to properly listen.   
 “Your cats.”   
“Oh... uhm. The one with the pink flowers is Rose and the white one is named Lily”, he blushes a little at his name choices but Theo only hums still watching the creatures.

  
“So, what are you? I mean, you didn’t freak out when you saw the cats - or the cannibal plant for that matter, but apart from that you also just teleported us to the other end of the world and back in a matter of minutes...” the rest of the sentence gets drowned out when Theo turns around from where his gaze lingered on the playing cats and they look each other in the eyes for the first time.

  
Blue meets green and then the world explodes in feelings.   
“That”, Theo brings out when his heart rate slows down a little bit, “that is why I am here.”   
And Liam, his confusion the most evident of his emotions for most of his life, feels an overwhelming amount of calm and trust wash over him.   
“It’s you", he smiles and his magic swirls through the room, letting leaves green and flowers bloom, “why didn’t you say anything?”   
   
“Oh yeah, it always works out well to just knock on someone's door and say _‘hey, you are my soulmate, please love me'_ , that’s a real winner. Not that my way of courting seems to have worked any better...” he ends the sentence in barely audible but clearly embarrassed mumble, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks.   
Liam laughs softly, “You tried to impress me with all those plants last year.”   
Theo doesn't answer, his face stays turned towards the cats.

  
“Hey", calloused hands grab his chin and force him to look at Liam again, “I am sorry. Shouldn't have reacted the way I did last year. God!” He laughs, “we could have had this so much sooner if I wouldn’t have been so competitive.”

  
   
They spend the rest of the afternoon getting to know each other and playing with Rose and Lily, who are in full bloom from all the attention they are getting. Hours later, when the sun rises to a bounce the new day and the start of the Festival both boys are asleep on the couch, curled into each other and when they finally wake up and Liam has to watch Major Martin crown a beaming girl as this years winner his eye just twitches a little bit and the wave of jealously is quickly stifled by the feel of Theo's hand in his own.

 

  
   
 **Bonus for Med who wanted the cat to be eaten for real (I am still not killing it!):**

  
**Liam's eyes open just in time to see his newest creation swallow the smaller one of his cats whole with one big bite.**   
**“No!” he surges forward, but the plant swats him away with a lazy wave of one big leaf.**   
  
**The bedroom door crashes open and Theo storms into the room.**   
**“What happened here?”**   
**“My cat! The stupid thing ate my fucking cat!”**   
**Theo instantly looses his fight posture. “Oh thank God, I thought it was something bad..”**   
**“What the fuck Theo?”**   
**“Calm down, those things take days to even digest a fly, Lily will be fine. Look.”**   
**Liam turns just in time to see a thorned paw slice through the fleshy body of the new cannibal plant, the moving stops as the plant drops to the floor, clearly mortally wounded and a second later the Bush-cat climbs out of the corpse, immediately shaking its leaves and starting to lick itself clean.**   
  
**Liam sinks on the couch in relief. “No more freaking cannibal plants...”**   
**“No more cannibal plants", Theo agrees.**   
  



End file.
